Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

73 reviews

shadereads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Child abuse

whooliio's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexism

Minor: Self harm, Animal cruelty, and Rape

juniormrsmini's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death of parent

southernreach's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Child abuse, Blood, and Animal death

scifi_rat's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Animal death, Blood, Pregnancy, Cursing, and Adult/minor relationship

sorryiateyourbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love this book. Felt like reading a fairytale at times. Katherine Arden's prose is amazing, lyrical and almost poetic at times and always easy to read. 


Lines like this just hit:

Spoiler

I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me.

Speaks for itself I think.

I'm not usually into fantasy but this book made me contemplate this stance entirely, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Physical abuse

saskiajva's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It was definitely an interesting book and i am curious about the next one! I do think there are some things the author can hone; i wasn’t a fan of the political or marriage plot lines as it didn’t really capture my interest, and I would love to see some higher stakes. I highly recommend googling the creatures discussed while you read as it adds a lot to the book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Forced institutionalization

a_libraryghost's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely beautiful writing and world building, and despite a fairly large cast of characters I didn’t get confused among them. I really felt like I was there. I’m usually not a fan of stories that aren’t as focused on plot but I actually think this was amazing and paced really well, and the plot was weaved in just the amount it needed to be.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

nightmarebees's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

the first half was a 3 and the second half was a 4. i loved East by edith pattou as a teen and this reminded me very much of that book at points. something about wintery folktales.

the first half felt so slow, but at the same time i couldn’t put it down and finished the book in two days, so? it really drew out the parts of the fairytale that are usually only a few sentences at the beginning, if that makes any sense. the characters who would be side characters are more fleshed out, and the fluid POV is interesting to read when it goes between them.

i will definitely be picking up book 2 from the library 

 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Sexism

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

mysimas's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Maybe more of a 3.5* book, but it made me happy, so rounding up.

Sometimes I felt like I was reading one of those horsegirl stories for young teens — seriously, the obsession of this book with horses is astounding — but other than that, I was sucked into the 14th century Russia and fell in love with both its human and magical inhabitants alike (with the exception of Konstantin who was a major creep and eerily similar to Hugo’s Frollo — ew, just ew, get them away from me!!). 

There’s strong themes of religion (Christianity killing the old gods and in extension the humans) which I didn’t mind as I’m not Christian (but I can see why some Christians wouldn’t be happy with this theme), and just as strong themes of female oppression, and it was cathartic to see Vasya’s small victories in this regard. 

My major complaint is the book ends rather abruptly and some questions remain unresolved (such as thee importance of Vasya’s blue pendant). Maybe they’ll be dealt with in the sequels??

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death